Norway dominated the slopestyle course here in Tignes, with first and third spots for Silje and Kjersti. Jamie Anderson, multiple winner and grand favorite, squeeze in the middle. This was a hell of a good show and now everybody can get suited and booted for the party tonight!

Britain’s Aimee Fuller open things up for the girls, a bit nervous on the rails obviously, she manages to find her cool on the kickers to throw down Cab Underflip, back 3 and a good old backflip. Silje Norendal definitely looked better on her first rails of the day, before a nice Switch back 5 on the first kicker and her signature Rodeo front 7, perfectly landed. First place straight, with a high 90 points. The Swiss Sina Candrian can’t do better, despite another nice 7. The always stylish Kjersti Buaas doesn’t find her pace on this first run and bail a massive 5 attempt. Finland’s and former TTR winner Enni Rukajarvi also falls down on the kicker. Spencer O’Brien has a solid chance today and shows it on her back 5 and back 5, but gets a bit of a drag on her middle back 7. Sarka Pancochova obviously wants to step up and do her maximum on the kickers, but can’t hold on to land her (big) back 7. Shame, the Cab under flip was super nice. And… Jamie Anderson’s status doesn’t make her shake: super steely on the first rail sets, including a sick 270 gat to board, she then show she’s not the champion in title for nothing: Front 7, Back 5 and Switch Back 5. But those rails man! Or woman, more like… Surprise, the judges allows an (only) 85 points to the American, leaving Norendal in first place. O’Brien third at the end of round 1.

Silje is back en course and puts down another remarkable effort, both on rails and kickers. Switch on the top rails, then two 5s very cleanly landed, and then comes that Rodeo front 7 we were expecting. The judges obviously too: she’s improving with a podium like 93 points! It’s far from being over yet but the Norwegian can’t hold her tears of joy with mum at the bottom of the course.

Candrian feels it’s the moment to throw her biggest tricks and goes for a 10 on the second kicker! But doesn’t hold on to it. Shame, it was ballsy if we can say so. Kjersti doesn’t follow the same path and stays on the 5s, two of them, massively above the rest, at least by size. But then falls on the last kicker.

A very clean second run from Enni gives her 80 points from the judge, but Spencer bails on the second kicker going for a 7. Shames, the rails were stylish…
Same deal for Anderson on her second attempt. Will she able to fight Silje’s supergeil run? Nothing is less certain, Jamie is maybe not on her best days, but still shows a big smile at the bottom of the course. That Cab 7 attempt didn’t go well. End of round 2: Silje leads with 93, then come Anderson and Enni.

Final run for these X Games in Tignes, and Silje will have to wait until the end to know her fate, although her position is pretty enviable. Aimee Fuller kept her double backflip for the final run, but no grab, and a hand drag. 73 points, 5th position. And Silje’s on. Nervosity again? She falls down quite hard catching her back edge on the rail. Now she can just sit down and watch what’s going to happen.

Sina has got this 9 in her sleeve, but unfortunately doesn’t land it. That’s one more contender out for Silje. Kjersti end up the day with a clean run but not that tech on the rails maybe – four 50/50s with one front 3 out. Although, the judges got impressed with the size of her 5s and her front 7. Enni, Sarka and Spencer can’t keep it clean on the main kicker. it’s then only down to Jamie now, dancing in the start box, that can move the podium around. Off she goes with the steely gap 270, and a beautiful Front 7 tail, into a 5 and then looses a bit of speed to get out of the third kicker properly, and land short, even though she can ride away with obviously well-trained legs.

So that was it. Silje Norendal takes her first win, Jamie Anderson get the Silver this time, and Kjersti Buass Bronze.

It was a pretty sweet ending to these Euro X Games 2013, but there’s still the party tonight for all the athletes to keep the goodtimes rolling.

Don’t miss Sami’s gallery and the video highlights to come soon both for men and women slopestyle!

1. Silje Norendal

2. Jamie Anderson

3. Kjersti Buaas

[If words aren't your cuppa, make sure your head over to watch the podium X Games slopestyle runs.]

After a spectacular pipe final yesterday – see the medal winning runs here, Tignes was ready for the slopstyle – men’s and women’s finals. Triples were on the menu, obviously…

This time round it was boys for once, who got to open up the day on a course that have been described as mellow but fun to ride by most of the riders out there. Proof is, Chas Guldemond, who didn’t make the cut, was still practicing with the finalists with a big smile on his face.

So Stale Sandbech is up first, goes smooth on the two sets of rails but takes a hard slam on the bigger kicker (second one), on an early triple attempt. No round of observation or calculation here! Same deal for Kostenburg, also bailing a 12 on the second kicker.

Gjermund Braaten is the first one to put down a complete run: Cab double 9, front 10, back 12 on the kickers, and first provisory place. Peetu who strategically kept his strength for the slope today – and didn’t enter the pipe final yesterday for this purpose – strikes hard on his first run, especially on the kickers, 3 huge tricks down the two third of the landing, in particular on a pretty sick Front 12.

Seb Toots starts tech on the first rail, switch hard way 270, then sends it hard on the kickers: Cab 12, back 10, front 10 dub, with a bit of a hand drag. Enough to get him 88 points, and goes straight in first place, in front of Peetu (82) and Braaten (78).

Mark McMorris, the bookie’s favorite, has maybe a bit of pressure on his shoulders – after the qualis were dominated by Torstein, and also because he’s expect to win. Mark also, bails on the second booter, going yet again for a triple. Torstein Horgmo goes also clean on the rails, before back 12, then he goes for back triple 14 on the second kicker but the compression sent him on his ass.

Second round, Stale and Sage can’t really improve they score and have a hard time with that second main feature it seems. Braaten puts down another very solid run, on the opposite of Willett, who only manage to land his switch back 12 on the second booter.

Peetu was obviously determined to improve, and he does, even on the amplitude… Until a failed backside 1440. But, hey, Toots second run? Just impressive. All the riders are cheering for that sick run, and the judges like it as well: 95 points, securing his first place. Switch hard way BS 270, Cab 12, and the sickest trick of the day back 14 that some people might call a triple!

That is when McMorris stomped the second triple of the day on the main jump, with style and amplitude. Shame for him, his first landing wasn’t super clean and doesn’t beat Toots score, for the moment anyway. Torstein, closing this second round, goes for the triple but bails it – nearly landing flat down the bottom.

Final round for everyone, and Stale also goes for a triple on the main jump and goes down too short. Nollie front flip on the knuckle of the final kicker and a cheer to the crowd, Sandbech is out with the honors. Sage, sitting in fourth at this moment, knows he’s gonna have to send this triple, but doesn’t land clean on the first booter. Same deal for Braaten , he won’t improve either. Willett does improve and slip in fourth.

Peetu follows the rules of this third round and can’t put another clean run, still in third. Seb Toots is in the box, with a bit of understandable pressure – although probably not as much as McMorris who has to drop right after him. No real bail here for him, but not his best run either. He stays at 95.

Just before McMorris’ run, we learned that Horgmo wouldn’t go for his last lap. That low landing on the second run obviously didn’t sit well with his right ankle… So it’s now only McMorris who can beat his fellow Canadian.

Mark knows it, he’s gonna have to throw down the hammers. Switch BS 270 on, 270 off, Cab 12, triple back and BS 10. But… He pays for a bit of a scrap on this Cab 12. The score comes: 94. It’s a wrap, Gold and Silver go to Canada but in a different order this time, Seb Toots wins the Euro X Games slopestyle title and the two bros fall in the arms of each other. Peetu score yet another podium.

Next up: the girl’s finals, with an obvious favorite, Jamie Anderson.

1. Sebastien Toutant

2. Mark McMorris

3. Peetu Piiroinen

The recently crowned Slopestyle TTR champion qualified first on the X Games Tignes slopestyle. Chas Guldemond and Jamie Nicholls are out.

As predicted yesterday, the sun was back this morning on the French resort, just in time to give the slopestyle riders the perfect conditions they could expect. And despite the (arguably) medium size of the course, some pretty sweet action went down. The set up: a first set of 2 rails, followed by another set of 3 rails including a big flat/down in the middle, then 3 kinda perfect jumps, and finally another set of 3 rails.

First to mark his territory, Torstein Horgmo, who was saying yesterday he had no expectations whatsoever for his last contest of the season, qualified in first position: switch BS 9, BS 10 double and Front 10 double on the 3 main features of the course, Cab 270 450 off, switch front tailslide 270 on the rail. His first run scored a shiny 92 points, bang. Unlike the ski qualis earlier, most of the favorite went through, except for Roope Tonteri – despite a solid run including a massive 9 and a Back 14. Guldemond though, didn’t manage to put down a really clean run. And Jamie Nicholls could also find reasons to argue about his elimination – Switch Back 9, Back 9 and Cab 10. Finally, Mark McMorris seemed to not really force his talent until the last run, when the Cab Double under and double cork 1260 got stomped perfectly.

Torstein will have the privilege to start last for the final tomorrow morning at 10.30 CET. And here are the results of the qualis:

1. Torstein Horgmo  - 92 points

2. Mark McMorris – 90

3. Seb Toots – 89.33

4. Peetu Piiroinen – 85

5. Eric Willett – 84.33

6. Germund Braaten – 81.66

7. Sage Kostenburg – 78.66

8. Stale Sandbech – 75

Rest of the program:

Thursday, 21st March 2013

- 1:00 – 2:15 pm: Men’s Ski Slopestyle final

- 3:00 pm: Women’s Ski Slopestyle final

- 6:30 – 7:45 pm: Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe final
- 8:30 – 10 pm: Men’s Ski Ski SuperPipe eliminations

Friday, 22nd March 2013

- 10:30 am – noon: Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle final
- 1:00 – 2:15 pm: Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle final
- 6:30 – 7:45: Men’s Ski SuperPipe final
- 8:30 – 9:45 pm: Women’s Ski SuperPipe final

The next edition of World Championships of Snowboarding will be hosted by Yabuli, China in February 2016.

Everything went quite smoothly in Oslo last year at the World Snowboarding Championships, except for the lack of ambulances. So the next logical step is to move the February 2016 edition of the event 8000 miles around the world, up by Mongolia. In a resort none of us have ever ridden in or heard of. But they probably have an all you can eat buffet there so why the heck not. And they’re throwing in a Big Air event for our viewing pleasure too, so everyone’s winning. The decision to move away from less obscure venues is clearly “a major step forward in our ambition to establish the World Championships of Snowboarding as the world´s most respected snowboarding contest”, just as Reto Lamm says. Obvious, really.

For the uninitiated amongst you, Yabuli is away up the north of China in Heilongjiang. You know, the place famous for China’s best fumigated raw dog and salmon soup. Round the corner from Mundanjiang. Just up the road from Harbin, the place where snowman building contests have been way out of hand since the mid nineties.

World Snowboard Federation president Marco Sampaoli reckons “every rider coming from all around the world to China’s northeast will undoubtedly have a memorable experience” and you’ve got to assume he’ll be right. I mean, almost everything you own that is cool, tacky, or just plain bizarre was made by a small child in china. The Beijing Olympics were a hoot. Let’s send some snowboarders over there, have a bowl or two of dog soup served by a waiter talking a language we can’t decipher, add a dollop of dubstep, gopro every move they make and you’ve got a guaranteed viral jackpot in the making. Both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are allowed to turn a blind eye to the questionable politics of their host nations, so why should the WST stand for anything different. And hey, I’ll be snuggled up with my mactop watching from somewhere warm in the heart of the Alps, so what do I care which corner of the internet the highlights are streaming from, as long as 14 year olds are trippling off massive piles of snow and there are some flashy lights?

Yet again Nike have stuck a swoosh up a tried and tested formula, thrown a wodge of dollar at it and thrown open entry to all of us. If racing round burms, over hips, along jibs and all the way to the bank doesn’t float your boat then click away now. Otherwise, pop down Montafon for the Snakes and Hammers in a couple of weeks’ time and charm the sh** out of the judges.

The idea is to find have a giggle as well as a keeping it competitive, and split the money between the most rounded riders. After Chátel on march 10th, stop 3 of 5 similar events is in Montafon on 24-26th March. Riders are timed as well as judged, amateurs can snake the pros in the line up and win enough to get royally hammered afterwards. Why on earth not?

Check more info at www.snakeandhammers.com

Torstein Horgmo.

Yesterday, Vail played host to the men’s and women’s slopestyle semi finals of the Burton US Open and the riding was predictably heavy. Canadian Spencer O’Brien nudged Jamie Anderson out of pole position on her last run, while Torstein Horgmo blew minds seemingly without even breaking a sweat. [We're working on the highlights of yesterday's action. Check back later to watch how it went down.]

It’s the first time Vail’s hosted this prestigious event – now in its 31st edition – and they’ve constructed quite the slopestyle course to show they mean business. Starting with the MINI jib section – an assortment of rails scattered around a huge wallride feature – the run opens out into three monumental mounds of snow with jumps tagged on their summits. Seriously, we were floored by the scale of the landings, but chat from the riders (and the riding itself) suggested that said landings could have done with being a little steeper – it wasn’t uncommon for people to get the landing gear down, yet get bucked.

Nevertheless, the riding from the shredders at the apex of the slopestyle game was predictably bolts. Women’s slopestyle is often a two-horse race these days, with Jamie Anderson and Spencer O’Brien duking it out for the top spot, and in the semis it was the Canadian who took first blood. Spencer led the women’s field with her winning run that included a frontside boardslide, MINI wallride to gap to frontside lipslide, 50-50 frontside 180 out, switch backside 180 mute grab, and a frontside 360 to backside 540 indy grab. She was also bummed that in claiming the top spot she bumped 14-year-old Japanese girl Miyabi Onitsuka out of the finals, once again confirming she could very well be the nicest person on the planet. Right behind her was Jamie Anderson (USA) in second and Brooke Voigt (CAN) in third. In total, 21 women from 11different countries battled it out on the slopestyle course and the top sixriders will advance to the finals.

Spencer O’Brien

On the men’s side, Norwegian Torstein Horgmo simply made A-grade snowboarding look like the easiest thing in the world. He cruised into first place with a winning run that included a switch backside 270 on, MINI wallride to switch frontside boardslide 270 out, switch lipslide 270 out, switch backside 900 mute grab, and a frontside double cork 1080 mute grab followed by a huge backside double cork 1080 indy grab. Close behind him was Eric Willett (USA) in second and young-gun Yuki Kadono (JPN) – whose first run front 12 attempt was so big we thought he was going to land in Denver – in third. But for all the guys and girls you knew that the handbrake was most certainly on. Come finals on March 1st the level will ratchet up a notch or two. Make sure you tune in.

Women’s Slopestyle Semi-Final Results

1. Spencer O’Brien CAN, NIKE, 75.33

2. Jamie Anderson USA, BILLABONG, 74.88

3. Brooke Voigt CAN, 32 SNOWBOARD BOOTS, 70.08

4. Sarka Pancochova CZE, FLOW, 69.53

5. Christy Prior NZL, BURTON, 63.53

6. Shelly Gotlieb NZL, BURTON, 62.00

Men’s Slopestyle Semi-Final Results

1. Torstein Horgmo NOR, DC SHOE CO USA, 87.93

2. Eric Willett USA, VANS, 84.26

3. Yuki Kadono JPN, RIDE, 83.88

4. Mark McMorris CAN, BURTON, 83.43

5. Chas Guldemond USA, ROCKSTAR, 81.25

6. Peetu Piiroinen FIN, NIKE, 80.63

7. Maxence Parrot CAN, O’NEILL, 80.28

8. Stale Sandbech NOR, OAKLEY, 80.03

9. Sage Kotsenburg USA, NIKE, 79.28

10. Ryan Stassel USA, BURTON, 77.23

11. Jamie Nicholls GBR, NIKE, 75.03

12. Darcy Sharpe CAN, MONSTER, 74.98

Shaun White just showed the world that he in fact does have what it takes to compete in the über-hucking world of contemporary slopestyle snowboarding by winning the Winter X Games in Tignes. Mark McMorris came second and Eric Willett rounded out the podium. Check the videos of the top 3 runs…

No sooner had we posted the videos of last night’s Winter X Games Europe halfpipe finals – won by you know who – than the men’s slopestyle finals began, thus scuppering our plans to analyse yesterday’s action. In brief, Shaun’s win was fine by us because while Louie Vito did four doubles and a front 12, Shaun just went SO big on all his tricks – the backside air and the front 5 were dismissed by many but they were BOOMING – so we’re happy to see amplitude rewarded hansomely.

2ND – MARK MCMORRIS

So to today’s haps. It was the first slopestyle contest White had entered since 2009 and there’s been a lot of chat about if he’s got what it takes to compete in this discipline now that the level of riding has bootstrapped itself up to maddening levels of technicality. When he was slated to ride the Aspen X Games slope but pulled out with ‘injury’, only to win the pipe a few days later, many (including ourselves) were scoffing that he’d pussied out. Well, looks like we were wrong as from the first run today he didn’t look out of place at all (apart from his getup and, it must be said, his horrific addiction to boot grabs) and posted a 95 point score that no one, apart from himself, could beat. It was his second run that nabbed him the highest score of 97 points, mixing in a gap cab 270 boardslide, cab 5 hop up to back lip-to-fakie, switch backside double 10, cab double 12, back double 12 and finishing off with a fakie to forwards boardslide.

3RD – ERIC WILLETT

He was aided by the inability of many riders to land a clean run and, sure, a couple dudes (notably Ståle Sandbech) were harshly scored, but – and this comes from a group of people who find much to dislike about Shaun White – in our opinion he fully deserved both his wins, despite the judges getting their jazz hands going a little to easily for him. He’s certainly, for our money, not the best snowboarder on the planet but if there’s a better competitive snowboarder around we’ve yet to see them.

Watch the women’s podium Winter X Games Europe slopestyle runs here. Jamie Anderson is a frickin’ boss.

The Slopestyle course. Not too shabby.

Simon Gruber.

Mathias Weissenbacher.

Men’s Slopestyle Qualification Results Session I

1. Tor Lundstrom (SWE), Sweet, 85.50
2. Emil Ulsletten (NOR), Nitro, 84.75
3. Nuutti Niemelä (FIN), Smith, 83.82
4. Ville Paumola (FIN), Quiksilver, 81.55
5. Stian Kleivdal (NOR), Billabong, 78.10
6. Ole Christian Hagen (NOR) DC Shoe Co USA, 77.85
7. David Hablützel (SUI), Burton, 69.45
8. Max Buri (SUI), Salomon, 68.73
9. Jan Kralj (SLO), Madness, 67.60
10. Merrick Joyce (USA), Oakley, 66.15
11. Kevin Backstrom (SWE), Nike, 65.68
12. Leandro Eigensatz (SUI), Salomon, 64.82

Men’s Slopestyle Qualification Results Session II

1. Niklas Mattson (SWE), K2, 89.37
2. Jan Scherrer (SUI), Nike, 82.45
3. Simon Gruber (ITA), Smith, 81.35
4. Roman Dlauhy (CZE), Burton, 80.83
5. Tim-Kevin Ravnjak, (SLO), Red Bull, 80.10
6. Christian Kröll (AUT), Voelkl, 76.77
7. Havard Bergheim (NOR), Ride, 72.07
8. Herbert Thaler (AUT), Quiksilver, 72.03
9. Brage Richenberg (NOR), Salomon, 71.48
10. Eric Beauchemin (USA), DC Shoe Co USA, 71.08
11. Clemens Jezler (SUI), DC Shoe Co USA, 69.77
12. Joachim Krogstie (NOR), Analog, 69.72
13. Trym Nordgaard (NOR), Quiksilver, 66.62
14. Ben Kilner (GBR), Oakley, 64.40
15. David Djité (SUI), Forum, 64.08
16. Jonas Boesiger (SUI), Salomon, 62.38
17. Even Solbraa (NOR), Sabotage SB, 62.27
18. Philipp Gruber (AUT), Burton, 61.55

Tim Kevin Ravnjak.

If you can’t make it to LAAX make sure to watch the live webcast from Feb. 29th – March 3rd, 2012 on www.redbull.tv.